I Can't Drive 35

Someone wrote in via our tip widget today:

What's going on with electric vehicles in WA? I just watched "Who Killed the Electric Car?", about California's journey to almost make the electric car a part of our every-day lives. They go into how recent (as of 2002) technology allows electric cars to easily go freeway speeds and can easily compete with other cars in terms of acceleration.
Then I read this.

Washington is creating a law that will allow electric cars to go 35mph? And they used to only be able to go 25mph? What useless set of laws is this?

Are they telling me that if I go out and buy a Tesla Roadster, that goes 0-60 in 4 seconds, 135mph top speed, with a range of 250 miles (all at $0.01/mile), I can only drive the thing less than 35 mph and only on city streets?

Please tell me I'm misunderstanding this story.

Actually, we can't. It does seem from that Seattle Times article and others that we've read that the speed limit for electric cars in the state of Washington is currently 25 mph, however, there's legislation pending to get that changed to a screaming 35. Wow, just imagine yourself tearing up the ~~fairway~~ freeway at 35 miles per hour in an electric auto... We hear you can feel the low emissions in your testicles.

That Tesla he mentions that gets to 60 in four seconds? Assuming (probably incorrectly) a flat acceleration you'd break the speed limit in Washington a little less than two seconds after you mashed down the pedal. In the Seattle Times article most of the electric cars they talk about sound more like golf carts than automobiles. We have yet to see Who Killed the Electric Car for ourselves, but we've been under the impression that it talks a lot about GM's EV1 which was governed at 80mph. The computer of Toyota's RAV4 allows it to reach 85mph. Why, if they're legally capped at 25? We suspect that there's some legal distinction between your EV1s, RAV4s and Tesla rockets and the cars mentioned in the Seattle Times article, but we can't find any proof of that.

What we can find proof of is one of those EV Sparrows driving around Seattle at 55 and higher. Is this guy breaking the law then?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Dan in News on March 27, 2007 1:32 PM

Comments [rss]

Steven S. Lough

After the TIMES article on 25 vs 35 mph, then KOMO ran a story and the MYTH that EVs cant DO over 25 mph was perpetuated. Here was my RANT to KOMO

Steve Lough, President Seattale EV Association...

--------------------------

Dear KOMO TV News, Todd Johnson, Ken Schram, et.al.

After 26 years, a quarter century of trying to educate, demonstrate, and proliferate the use of clean efficient Electric Cars... in less than

5 minutes your station has possibly set us back a quarter century !!!

It is your folks who should get a "Shreammy" for stating such mis-information that.. "All electric cars are limited by law to 25 mph"

or "All electric cars can't go over 25 mph" Im not sure exactly how your reporter actually said it...

BUT......

It is ONLY (Neighborhood Electric Vehicles), NEV's which are limited to 25 mph by government laws, not by their ABILITY !!! And only because they are not Crash Tested, nor do they have Air Bags.. This has made entry into the NEV market affordable to a half dozen or so manufacturers.

It has little or nothing to do with Electric Cars in GENERAL.

Most all electric's now on the road are conversions from LEGAL Gas cars, and can easily cruise at 50, 60, 70,mph !!! L E G A L L Y !!

The New Tesla Roadster ?? with air bags, fully fed. certified 135 mph

My friend in Portland, Street Legal little old Datsun 1200 converted to

Electric Dragster, 105 mph in the Quarter MILE, Faster than a 5 ltr Mustang V8 !!!!!

Our SEVA members have bought second hand, GM Electric S-10 Pick-ups and Toyota Rav4 EV's which were made for the California market,

( but missed being crushed!)( i.e. "Who Killed the Electric Car"

These factory bult EVs have 60, 70, 80, miles of range per charge and cruz at 70+ easily !!!

Just too many examples to mention.. Why your reporter didn't meet with Steve Mayeda and I, I may never know...

AND another thing. Why wasn't Steve Mayeda of MC Electric even mentioned !! HE IS THE ONE who with help from State Rep. Dickerson, got the House Bill 1820 started, Which was FRONT PAGE Seattle Times Monday. But SHE was "Diss'ed" too by your reporters. Even after Steve Called to REMIND your people that she should be given CREDIT for all her environmental work on this and other bills.

All they would have had to do is READ the Paper.

PLEASE, Please, try and install a few words of correction in your

Wednesday 5pm broadcast... Please...

lektwik

People would think you would do at least the minimal amount of research before authoring a story like this.

But no.

That would be expecting way too much.

Try googling "NEV", that would be a good start.

Corprew

A Neighborhood Electrical Vehicle is less like a car than a fancy golf cart -- See Neighborhood_electric_vehicle in Wikipedia -- when the article says 'they're more than a fancy golf cart,' it means they look like cars and have a modicum of safety, not that they essentially aren't pretty, safe vehicles using golf cart motors.

They're very efficient, but not really designed for use outside of the neighborhood they're based in. So, this seems more like a legal classification issue than anything having to do with objective reality.

k cip

Forget the electric car, google "hybrid mini" and read about the PML Mini Cooper hybrid.

Jason

There's a misunderstanding going on here. the speed limit applies to Neighborhood Electric Vehicles, a class of cars that do not meet federal safety standards. The cars made by GM, Toyota, and Tesla meet federal standards and are thus limited only by the posted speed limit and the design of the vehicle .

This means that the Tesla Roadster is far less limited than Seattlest Seth's Saturn, which the laws of gravity limit to going about 19mph uphill.

josh

"The cars have not passed federal safety tests, so they aren't legal to use on highways"

I assume that the EV1 and other modern electrics have passed federal testing and are in a different category from these small vehicles.

Josh

I'm pretty sure the speed cap only refers to neighborhood electric vehicles, which are regulated differently. The EV1 and RAV4 aren't NEVs, and so aren't subject to the speed cap.

I don't have a TypeKey identity, so I can't post a URL, but if you go to wikipedia and search for "neighborhood electric vehicle", you'll get more information.

Matt the Engineer

Looking into this further, it appears that the Seattle Times has their story wrong (their cover story, at that). The legislation is to create a category for medium-speed electric vehicle. Neighborhood electric vehicles (NEV's) were already allowed (25mph max), but it appears that so are full electric vehicles. The difference seems to be that full electric vehicles need the same safety requirements as regular cars (air bags, etc.), whereas NEV's don't have as strict of requirements.

I don't see anywhere in the definition of a regular motor vehicle that states that it has to have an internal combustion engine.

Dan

Hey, nice catch--I think you're right. To me that further illustrates the ridiculousness of this speed limit, though. How is that thing safer than a four-wheeled car?